Prong
Review by Jason Guest and photos by Samantha Knight
In support of new album Ruining Lives, for their European tour, Prong have returned to the shores of good ‘ol blighty for just four dates. And fortunately for us, Wolverhampton’s Slade Rooms was to be the host for one of ‘em.
Support band Italy’s Klogr (pronounced “kay-log-are”) are, I assume, a new name for those in attendance this evening, but that is no deterrent for this band who proceed to play it as if it’s a hometown headline show. Appearing on stage to a crowd of a good hundred or so, their alternative rock / modern metal is quick to captivate an audience that responds to them as if they’re long familiar with the band’s work.
Having given the album a few run-throughs, it has to be said that Klogr are much heavier on stage. Where the twelve-track album is a very well produced and impressive piece of work, it has a more commercial sound to it with their melodic aspect being brought to the fore. Live however, Klogr turn up the heavy and the darker and denser elements are given emphasis, a fact not lost on this appreciative crowd. With vocalist/guitarist “Rusty” Rustichelli addressing and thanking the audience at every opportunity, Klogr’s multi-layered, melodic, and mighty blend of rock and metal with hints of industrial and (whisper it) nu-metal goes down a storm and they win over more than a few fans this evening. Deservedly so. If you’ve not heard these guys before, you should be checking them out.
With new album Ruining Lives (reviewed here) to be released on 28 April, upon entry to tonight’s show, Prong fans are greeted with a free two-track CD featuring new track ‘Absence of Light’ and ‘Keep On Living In Pain’ from 2012’s Carved Into Stone. With band’s seemingly stuck for ideas on how to promote their work, the first step is to reward fans for showing up to your gigs. The next step is to floor ‘em with a killer show.
Opening with two tracks from 1990’s Beg To Differ – ‘For Dear Life’ and the title track – is a sign that, like the upcoming album, tonight is to harness the best of the band’s history. Two songs in and already, Tommy Victor is a blur on stage, stationary only when the lyrics demand it and interacting with the crowd when his clenched-fist concentrated riffs allow. And with an industrial strength drummer and bassist to flesh out the low end, tonight Prong prove to be an incomparable live force, the attitude carved into the DNA of each song as tangible as the band’s powerful stage presence and vehement delivery. And with a set list comprised of tracks that span the band’s entire career, it’s one that this audience knows inside out and makes it known to Victor and co.
As well as the welcome addition of tracks from 2012’s Carved Into Stone, the title track from the new album gets an airing, as does lead single ‘Turnover’ (on sale on limited edition 7” green vinyl on the tour), and both get the same response as long-time classics ‘Lost And Found’, ‘Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck’, and ‘Whose Fist Is This Anyway?’. With ‘Power Of The Damager’ to close the set, Prong and crowd know they can’t leave us yet and so return with the threatening and infectious ‘Revenge Best Serve Cold’. And with both genre-defying and metal-defining moments in their history, choosing to close with ‘Prove You Wrong’ is the perfect closer to a phenomenal evening. Almost thirty years since they formed and Prong are still ruining lives in the best way possible.
Set List:
- For Dear Life
- Beg To Iffer
- Irrelevant Thoughts
- Unconditional
- Eternal Heat
- Lost And Found
- Ruining Lives
- Third From The Sun (Chrome cover)
- Cutrate
- Rude Awakening
- Turnover
- Carved Into Stone
- Broken Piece
- Another Worldly Device
- Whose Fist Is This Anyway
- Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck
- Power Of The Damager
Encore:
- Revenge Best Serve Cold
- Prove You Wrong
